Celebrating Dottie's Birthday

We were on the move again recently ... this time to Arlington, Virginia and a long-postponed visit with my cousin Dottie. Kathy, her daughter, lives down there and Dottie moved to be close to her about a year ago. Since then we visited only once and that was soon after she moved.

The occasion this time was a surprise party for Dottie that Kathy organized. It was her 88th birthday - a great reason to celebrate. We stayed with our friends, Ellen and Brian, who also live in Arlington and whom we had also not seen since our trip to France last fall. We stuck our bikes on the back of our Honda van and took a long and rainy drive south, arriving at the Egan home about 5 p.m. on Friday. We had dinner with our friends, chatted and hung out for a while and then hit the sleeping sack, very tired. Since the birthday party was not till 2:30 the next day, we planned to bike into Washington Saturday morning for breakfast with Ellen and Brian.


Ellen applies sunscreen before starting out on our bike ride to breakfast in Washington. We love their house and they've just added a lovely screened room that overlooks a lush back yard. Beautiful!

One great thing about Arlington and Washington - is the bounty of recreational possibilities. There are well-maintained bike/ped paths galore, a multitude of parks and great natural beauty everywhere. We pedaled across the Chain Bridge to get to the northern side of the Potomac and the bike path that would take us into Georgetown. The path runs along a canal that was used to carry goods and products from Washington to the hinterlands out "west". Among its investors was George Washington. But before it could really get going, the railroad came along and put the venture into bankruptcy. Today, the old towpath serves walkers, joggers, bikers and nature lovers and the canal is filled with ducks, geese and turtles instead of flat-bottomed barges. It's quite idyllic to ride along this pretty canal and then end up several miles later in the lovely and very gentrified village of Georgetown with its hilly streets and quaint old townhouses, shops and many, many restaurants.


Brian is passed by another biker as we ride along the bike path to Georgetown.


There goes Mother Goose and family.


Ellen and Stacey bring up the rear.


We stopped to watch the action.


I'll take the low road and you take the high road ... and I had to shlep my bike up 100 steps at the end of the ride!

We've always loved Georgetown - what's not to love? It's elegant and old and has great old buildings. Of course, it's terribly crowded - overflowing with residents and visitors and their cars! (why don't they just get out of the cars and WALK??) And it's oh-so-fashionable with its uber-trendy stores and eating places. In that regard it can be as pretentious as Soho in Manhattan. So there. I answered my own question -- that's what's not to love about Georgetown.


Entering Georgetown - a remnant of its past - the canal and the old industrial warehouses - now trendy shops and such.

We leaned our bikes against a wall and sat down at a busy outdoor cafe on a back alley down near the canal. After our repast, we biked back to get ready for Dottie's surprise bash. We've done this ride many times before - it's always fun to hang with Ellen and Brian and we've shared many nice times together over the years. These are great old friends.

In my next installment: Dottie's Birthday Bash - stay tuned.


Stacey waits to be served in Georgetown.


Our friend, Brian, checks the menu.


Hanging out in their new screened porch.

In my next installment: Dottie's Birthday Bash - stay tuned.